: Re: The unknown and unexplained in science fiction Science fiction has been defined as a genre where the "incredible" elements are "recognizable as not-true, but also as not-unlike-true, not-flatly-

@LarsenBagley300

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Going of the "Lay person" comment, there are a lot of topics today where people may understand the fundamental basics of the system, but not the actual working mechanics. I recall a scene from the TV series "Transformers: Prime" where Jack (a human) is working on his science fair project about engine mechanics with Arcee (a robot that can change into a motorcycle) and both have reached a stumbling point and have the following exchange (paraphrased):

Jack: Arcee, you're a motorbike. Can't you build me an engine?
Arcee: a bit annoyed Jack, you're a human. Build me a small intestine.

It's notable in that the person who ends up helping Jack is a mechanic, which to the Transformers requires a lot of science background equivalent to a Medical doctor. Arcee is a soldier and knows how to break a bot... putting one back together is a bit beyond her ken.
Another example of this exists in Firefly, where Mal, the Captain, knows very little about how his ship flies and in fact, he has to hire two people to both fly the ship and repair it (Wash and Kaylee) although he has some ability to overlap with Wash, he isn't nearly as good. In one scene where there is a break on the ship, Kaylee is giving a long technical explination about how a spaceship from the future works only to be interupted by Mal and asked for a translation into "Captain Dummy Speak" which amounts to the ship is broke and dead in the water.
Similarly, in Star Trek, the technical solution was given in full by the "Royal Smart Person" only for someone to come up with an analogy for what he just said. Saying you could use a high energy neutrino beam to polarize the shields is meaningless, but everyone knows that it's essentially going to go through the shield like a hot knife through butter. Of course, Star Trek gives us one of the best out of universe answers to the scientific workings of it's tech. When one writer was asked by a fan "How do the Inertial Dampeners work?" the writer responded with the right answer to the question, "Just fine, thank you." This was accepted because Trek Tech does have a consistent use of terms that the writers use to show specific effects without really knowing how they work. The inertial dampeners allow for safe travel at FTL speeds that won't cause the crew to go splat on deceleration. It's basically the breaks. The exact mechanics are not known, but they don't need to be. If ever a character shouts that the dampeners aren't responding, it's gonna be panic mode (they are not that prone to break, when compared to holodecks and transporters, which are the go to mechanical trouble points that will cause problems).
Star Wars, which doesn't really explain tech, gives us Han Solo and his beloved hunk of junk Millenium Falcon. Han's love of the ship is very much like the gear head who's always tinkering with his cool car... and like the gear head, the ship's age mixed with modifications that aren't strictly legal in nature, means the ship is all kinds of messed up and not the most reliable. When Luke points to a blinking light while Han tries to make the first hyper-space jump, Han merely tells him don't press it... like a passenger in an old car in a police chase being concerned about the perpetually lit "check engine" light and the ace driver not wanting him to worry about it. It's always on. Empire gives us Han having trouble because his ship is broke and all the usual fixes aren't working and the cops are on him.

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